Chart of the day

Frank de Libero makes a reasonable argument: that (at least for the United States) the Gini index is redundant and can be replaced as a measure of inequality by the household income share of the top quintile.

The above chart shows, since the late-1960s, the share of income to the top quintile growing while the combined share of the bottom four quintiles falling. Thus, for example, the fifth quintile averaged over the last few years captured 51 percent of total income compared to a 43 percent average income share in the beginning of the timeline. The combined income of the rest of the households has moved in exactly the opposite direction.